The present invention describes the design and construction of high-precision off-axis optical imaging systems. The present invention also describes the design and construction of high-precision mounting structures for rigidly holding optical elements in an optical imaging system. The present invention further describes both a mechanism for highly stable mounting and a technique for high precision focusing of a detector in a complex optical setup. The present invention even further describes both tooling and a technique used for focusing high precision optical imaging systems. The theory and use of at least these concepts are introduced by examining how these concepts aid the construction and use of a non-contact laser scanning system. A body of useful information for this work is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,441,908, issued to Johnston et al.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the detailed description of the invention hereinbelow.